My guess is that the parts may not be all original - the open C skewers usually pre-date the saddle I believe. Not that any of that really matters - it shouldn't impact the bikes value. If I'm not mistaken, the brakes are from early 60's, and the frame clearly is from somewhere in the 50's.
It is really a fools game to try to date a Cinelli by the serial number. There is no logic to the numbers. Perhaps there is a scheme to it, but until someone "unlocks" the mystery, there is no reason to use numbers as a guide. The only exception is if you know the number and its a bike that came into the US through Cupertino, sometimes they have it in the log.
One clue that I've asked Alex about is the size of the headbade. Cinelli around 1956 or so went to the typical size headbadge where previous to that a larger one was often used.
Mike Kone in Boulder CO USA
> At 3:45 PM +0000 10/5/08, alex m wrote:
\r?\n> >eBay item 370093623287=09
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >I learnt a lot from the Colnago appeal, so am trying my luck with a Cinelli
\r?\n> >. Are the experts the same for both marques?
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >Alexander March
\r?\n> >Bordeaux
\r?\n> >France=0A=0A=0A
\r?\n>
\r?\n> It's a beautiful bike.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> The Cinelli registry indicates a few early 1960s bikes with numbers
\r?\n> between 5300 and 5600 - yours is 5514, so it would fit in there.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> However, yours has "ears" in the lugs, and those seem to have been
\r?\n> deleted around 1960. So your late 1950s estimation seems likely. If
\r?\n> the saddle is original, it would date from after 1957.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Is it possible that Cinelli built frames for stock, but only stamped
\r?\n> them with numbers once they were sold? So a late 1950s frame might
\r?\n> have been sold only in 1960, received it number and then was
\r?\n> chrome-plated? (When I bought my Marinoni in 1990, it was a stock
\r?\n> frame that was then painted to my specs.)
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Chrome may be original, I have seen a few chrome-plated 1950s Italian bikes.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Jan Heine
\r?\n> Editor
\r?\n> Bicycle Quarterly
\r?\n> 140 Lakeside Ave #C
\r?\n> Seattle WA 98122
\r?\n> http://www.bikequarterly.com